Discussion of public health and health care policy, from a public health perspective. The U.S. spends more on medical services than any other country, but we get less for it. Major reasons include lack of universal access, unequal treatment, and underinvestment in public health and social welfare. We will critically examine the economics, politics and sociology of health and illness in the U.S. and the world.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

People are stupid

Isaac Asimov spoke at my college back in the day, and those were the first three words of his talk. Anyhow, as you probably know, Judgment Day is one week from today. Lots of people -- nobody seems quite sure how many but it sure seems like hundreds, at least -- have quit their jobs, abandoned their families, and are assiduously planning to spend their last dime by 5:59 pm on May 21. (The apocalypse starts at 6:00 pm, rolling across time zones, apparently.)

The basic idea is that when people who are committed to a belief confront facts that don't fit, they just dig in deeper. They find a way, either to dismiss the fact, or reinterpret them, or somehow cram them into their framework. Although this is usually discussed with obligatory Fairness and Balance, it's pretty clear to me that people do this to varying degrees, that some minds are more open than others, and that there is a correlation with the conventional left-right political spectrum. (And no, I don't consider doctrinaire Communists to be actual liberal thinkers.) But that aside ...

There must be some degree of getting smacked in the face by the cold fish of reality that will get through to just about anybody, right? I mean, suppose (I know it seems unrealistic but bear with me) that Harold Camping has miscalculated and dawn breaks on May 22 with the world going on as before? What are these people going to think, and say?

So what would it take to break through global warming denial? Record setting droughts, floods, tornadoes, in every corner of the planet, haven't done it. But surely there is some tipping point where Rush Limbaugh and the Koch brothers just won't be able to fool people any longer, because what's in front of their faces is as plain as day. Where might that be?

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

My job often drags me in to the horrible pit of dispair known as risk communication, and my experience tells me that it all seems to come down to "teachable moments", where there are critical points in time where a person who was previously closed to a certain viewpoint or fact will become open to it, and accept it or understand it afterward. These days, when I recognize that someone is pigheaded by nature and I can't educate them normally, I am forced to let them carry on until the inevitable happens or comes close to happening, at which point I can leap in and provide the education. It's an imperfect system, but you could drive yourself insane trying to force some people to understand science, logic, or risk!

Bringing it back to the original point of the post, the people you mentioned probably won't accept ever accept global warming unless the sea covers the earth and we're looking at a "Water World" type situation, ie, not in their lifetimes. They probably already know that, and so they're perfectly safe to keep denying and swimming in riches like Scrooge McDuck until they get a coronary in Florida.